Paul Geoffrey Murdin#

OBE PHD

Work address:
Particle Physics and Astronomy
Research Council
British National Space Centre
151 Buckingham Palace Rd
SW1W 9SS
Tel: +44 (0)20 7215 0805
Fax +44 (0)20 7215 0804

Education, awards and honours

School:

• Trinity School of John Whitgift, Croydon

Universities:

• Wadham College, University of Oxford (1961 63); BA Physics and Mathematics 1963
• University of Rochester NY (1964 71); PhD Physics and Astronomy 1971
• Wolfson College, University of Cambridge (1990 )

Awards:

• Scholar, Trinity School, 1953
• Methuen Open Scholar, Wadham College, 1961
• Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), 1988

Societies:

• Member: International Astronomical Union
• Founder Member: European Astronomical Society, ex-President
• Member: Academia Europea
• Fellow: Institute of Physics
• Fellow: Royal Astronomical Society, Council Member, Treasurer
• Member: British Astronomical Association

Entry in Who’s Who (1988 ), Debrett’s People of Today (1989 )

Career chronology

• 1953 1960 Schoolboy, Trinity School
• 1961 1963 Undergraduate, Wadham College, Oxford
• 1963 1964 Assistant Experimental Officer, Astrometry Department, Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO)
• 1964 1970 (ex 1965 66) Graduate student, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester NY
• 1965 1966 Instructor, Department of Physics, Rochester Institute of Technology
• 1970 1971 Research Associate, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester NY
• 1971 2002 Employment with, or on leave from, the UK Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) and its successor, the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), as follows:
• 1971 1974 Senior Research Fellow, Astrophysics Department, RGO
• 1974 1975 Principal Scientific Officer (Grade 7), Astrophysics Department, RGO
• 1975 1978 Principal Research Scientist, Anglo Australian Observatory, Sydney, Australia
• 1978 1981 Principal Scientific Officer (G7), Astrophysics Department, RGO
• 1981 1987 Senior Principal Scientific Officer (G6), Head of La Palma Operations Division, Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, Canary Islands
• 1987 1990 Senior Principal Scientific Officer (G6), Head of Astronomy, Support and Research Department, RGO
• 1990 1991 Deputy Director, RGO (G6)
• 1990 Senior Member, Wolfson College, Cambridge
• 1991 1993 Director (G5), Royal Observatory Edinburgh
• 1993 1994 Royal Greenwich Observatory (G6)
• April 1994 Jan 2002 Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council and British National Space Centre
• Jan 2002 – Senior Fellow, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge

Organisational work

Present membership of committees (external to SERC/PPARC):

• UK delegate to Science Programme Committee of the European Space Agency
• Board of Trustees of the National Maritime Museum (1990 2002)
• Council of the Royal Astronomical Society (1996 ); Vice President (1999-2001); Treasurer (2001- )
• Editorial Board of Vistas in Astronomy for Pergamon Press (Editor: Vistas in Astronomy Special Issue on the Canary Island Observatories, June 1985)
• Editorial Board for the Astronomy and Space Library for Kluwer
• Visiting Committee: European Southern Observatory (1997- )
• General Editor: Encyclopaedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nature Publishing Group 2001)
• President: Faulkes Telescope Corporation
• Board member: National Schools Observatory
• Board member: Beagle 2 Board

Past membership:

• Review Panel for the Nordic Optical Telescope (1993)
• Review for the Academy of Finland of Finnish Astronomy (Chairman of review panel, 2001)
• Management Committee of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (1987 92)
• International Scientific Committee (CCI) of the Canary Island Observatories (secretary)
• Organising committees of the meeting on SS433, Rome 1984, the meeting on SN1987a, Sydney 1988, the meeting on accretion discs, Tenerife 1986, General Meeting of the European Astronomical Society Liege 1992, UNESCO/IAU conference on astronomical environmental protection Paris 1992, General Meeting of the RAS and EAS Edinburgh 1994, joint meeting IAU/CIE The Hague 1994
• Chairman of the Board of the ROE Trust (1991 3)
• BAA Light Pollution Committee ( 1995)
• Council of the European Astronomical Society (Vice President 1990 93; President 1993 96)
• Commission 50 on the Identification and Protection of Observing Sites of the International Astronomical Union (Vice President 1988 91, President 1991 94)
• Light Pollution Technical Committee TC4.21of the Comission Internationale de l’Eclairage (member)